When summer school opens next week, the Carolina football team will welcome some more newcomers from the class of 2007, but more importantly, these players will enter into the all important summer workout phase of the off-season. Over the next two months, players will endure the summer heat and humidity of Columbia and devote time each day to lifting weights, running sprints, and working on their speed, agility, and quickness. In today's column, we will begin to take a position-by position look at the players whose summer is critical for the success of the 2007 Gamecock football team. Up first is the group that may hold the key to success for the upcoming season, the offensive line, where there are still unanswered questions from spring.

If there is one group that's most critical to Carolina's potential success in 2007, it is the offensive line. With three interior starters gone from last year's team, line coach John Hunt faces the challenge of rebuilding the offensive line. While William Brown appears to have solidified the center position, there must be doubts about his ability to make it through the season, as the 6-foot-4, 291-pound redshirt senior has battled injuries each of the last two seasons. Brown, who has opened each of those seasons at left guard, now moves over to center, taking over for three year starter Chris White.